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Kovalev Destroys Mohammedi, Calls Out Andre Ward

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Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KO) stopped Nadjib Mohammedi (37-4, 22 KO) with thirty seconds left to go in round three. Cradling his nose, it appeared that Mohammedi's nasal bone was broken. It was academic. Mohammedi is experienced in getting hit by straight right hands as a result of keeping his lead hand low.

Mohammedi's strategy was not apparent. As a traditional heavy-handed, lanky, not thickly-muscled boxer – Kovalev, that is – it is logical to assume that more stout Mohammedi would have wanted to smother and tussle with Kovalev at close range.In the post-fight interview with Max Kellerman, Kovalev said he was trying to make the fight last longer. Thank god that did not happen as extended mismatches are unwatchable.

The knockout was available in round one, but Kovalev wanted to jab to measure his opponent. That was sensible. On the other hand, at one point Mohammedi appeared to be standing on his toes to reach Kovalev's head with a triple jab as Kovalev backed away, sacrilegious of acceptable boxing technique. Elevating himself to reach Kovalev sacrificed his defense and power, as well as hampered his ability to quickly cover distance to close in on Kovalev.But there you have it. Despite showing an ability to fight on the inside in previous fights, Mohammedi was not technically well-seasoned.Kovalev scored a knock down in round two by way of a right hand to the temple at the 1:30 mark. Mohemmedi was fortunate to survive the round as his equilibrium was gone.

There really is nothing else of significance other than a consideration of Kovalev's future opponents. The most likely challenger was the winner of Jean Pascal and Yunieski Gonzalez, who fought each other as the co-main event.

The punch that broke Mohammedi's nose.

Frankly, Jean Pascal only has a puncher's chance against Kovalev. His poor endurance and low punch output will make it impossible for him to win rounds, and as he fatigues he will once again be a stationary target. Another try against Kovalev would be the third straight fight in which he took tremendous head shots from a big puncher.

Gonzalez was the loser despite landing nine more punches than Pascal and throwing over two-hundred thirty more. Kovalev's promoter will likely prefer a Pascal rematch since Pascal is popular in Canada compared to the unknown Gonzalez of Cuba.But Gonzalez is not ready for Kovalev. He showed little defense and fatigability. Kovalev would have no problem landing bombs on him.Ever the opportunist, Sergey Kovalev now wants a fight with super-middleweight Andre Ward. He has also ludicrously demanded for there to be no catchweight. I really do not respect Kovalev's preference for using a smaller man (not in his weight class) to build his name in an attempt to fool the public into believing that defeating a smaller man proves his skills when he is really only looking to use his size as an advantage – hence his preemptive refusal of a catchweight.To be sure, Kovalev is the naturally larger-framed man, but Ward is the better athlete and a more complete technical boxer. It is to Kovalev's advantage to face Ward as soon as possible. It is to Ward's advantage to delay the bout to give his skeletal frame the time to grow as much as possible to face Kovalev as a bigger man than he currently is.